Here’s Everything We Know About #BamaRush On TikTok Right Now
On today's episode of BuzzFeed Daily, we broke down the top pop culture headlines AND discussed why Alabama rush week is blowing up on TikTok. You can listen below or scroll down to read more about the interview!
So let's dive right into it! Recently we talked to BuzzFeed News reporter Paige Skinner about her piece on why everyone is talking about sorority rush week. Here's some of what we learned:
BuzzFeed Daily: What do you think it is that's drawing people in [to #RushTok]?
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Paige Skinner: It kind of reminds me of that Netflix docuseries, Cheer, the cheer team that was in Texas. And we were so obsessed with those young college kids and them trying to fit in and find a way. And they were all aiming for this one goal of winning the national championship. I just think there's something really special about watching young people try to find their place in the world. And then on top of it, Alabama for us is just so insane — you have all of these young white women with thick, heavy Alabama accents telling you what they wear. It all feels really campy and over the top. And there's just so much riding on it. I mean, they just so desperately want a sorority house to let them in. We don't know if they have any friends going into college, so this is all they want and need — is for a house to accept them and for them to have friends. So it's very compelling.
BuzzFeed Daily: What's so interesting is that people aren't just following the hashtag, you know, overall, but they're also following specific girls who are rushing. They're following their entire journey from start to finish. What is that like? Who are we looking at?
PS: Well, I think kind of the face of it was this young woman named Makayla, whose handle is @whatwouldjimmybuffettdo. And she kind of started the whole thing. And I think people were really invested in what house she was going to, and she ended up getting dropped from all of the houses. And so people were obviously devastated, and it felt kind of like a twist in the story, but it just happened to be this young woman's real life. And so I think that just made it all the more compelling. And it is like a reality show. But we're seeing it in real time, which we don't often get to see with reality shows. And it's young people — it's young women going off to college, and it's all a little bit devastating and exciting and kind of entertaining.
BuzzFeed Daily: Have you seen conversations happening on social media about diversity and the pledge system?
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PS: Yeah, definitely. I know a lot of people on TikTok were saying, "Oh, it's so interesting to watch Rush TikTok on Alabama, knowing that I'm a Black woman and I wouldn't have been allowed in the sororities before 2013." And it's definitely bringing up conversations about the whole system. I mean, sororities were founded on white supremacy. Essentially, they were founded in the 1800s, and they were for women on college campuses to get together and help each other with schoolwork. And once Black women and Jewish women started coming to college, a lot of sororities started implementing written and unwritten rules banning them. So it's been founded on white supremacy, and sadly it's continued all these years.
To start things off, after his film Free Guy hit theaters, Ryan Reynolds took to Instagram to make sure his fans know how crucial Blake Lively was to the movie.
In other news, Naomi Osaka attended her first press conference since the French Open, and...it didn’t go great.
Things seemed to be going fine until, according to a tennis reporter, another media member asked Osaka "a fairly aggressively toned question about how she benefits from a high-media profile but doesn't like talking to media."
Naomi began to cry and excused herself from the press conference, but later returned.
